IN his second letter about the Chamber of Commerce (Courier, December 13) David Oliver starts by saying he does "not want to get into a war of words" regarding the Chamber and then proceeds to do precisely that.

Yet his letter is helpful, for it reveals what this manufactured row is really all about – money.

Mr Oliver and the three other people who wrote to the Courier three weeks ago had all sought a donation from the Chamber and had been turned down.

The Chamber has limited resources and is not a grant giving body. Mr Oliver runs a food shop and therefore the Crediton Food Festival was directly relevant to his business.

I can understand why he wanted the Chamber to give him money for it.

However, as I explained in some detail two weeks ago, the Chamber had a full programme of its own, partly through the Government's High Street Innovation Fund initiative, which required the Chamber to match the funding on offer.

The Chamber was fully stretched with the four bids it had made for that and was not able to switch human or financial resources to other projects run by other people, like the Food Festival or the Crediton Festival.

The fact it did not give Mr Oliver the money he asked for does not mean the Chamber has no future, as he implied. It just means it had different priorities from him and his colleagues.

Demitri Coryton

(written in a personal capacity)

By email